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Cortex has six applications and they overlap less than their names suggest. Cortex Chat is a conversation, Cortex Code is work inside a repository, Cortex Bot is an agent with a computer of its own, Cortex CLI is Code in a terminal, Cortex Design is a board, and Cortex Security is review on a pull request. Picking the wrong one usually feels like a missing feature rather than a wrong turn, which is why this page exists. Start from the task, not from the product. The first table maps what you want to do to the application that does it. The second says what each one needs before it will open, because some are member-only and two are still in closed beta. The last section covers the pairs that genuinely overlap.

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Start from the task

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What each one needs

The two gates read differently. As a guest, opening Code or Bot shows This space is reserved, with Sign in or Continue in Chat. Signed in but not yet invited, you get a closed-beta dialog with Continue in Chat only. Neither can be dismissed and neither redirects. Chat is never gated.

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When two of them could work

Chat or Code? If the answer is text, stay in Chat. If the answer is a commit, use Code. Chat can reason about a snippet you paste, but it has no workspace, no branch and no diff. A Code session is a timeline of work with approvals and a change set, not a transcript with a different icon. Code in the browser, on the desktop, or the CLI? All three run the same kind of session. The browser gives you an isolated cloud runtime with nothing to install. The desktop app and the CLI add a host you actually own, which is the only way to work against a checkout, a device or a server that Cortex cannot reach on its own. The CLI is also the one you can put in a script or a pipeline. Code or Bot? Code is scoped to a repository and produces changes you review. A Bot has a general-purpose computer: it browses, clicks and works through a task on a desktop you can watch, and it parks the consequential steps for your approval. If the job is mostly web work, filling things in, or something that runs again tomorrow, that is a Bot. Code or Security? Cortex Code is where you make a change. Cortex Security is where a change gets read: it reviews the pull request in place, with no diff to paste, and writes its verdict as a check run and a summary. Cortex never approves a pull request on your behalf. Design or a Chat canvas? A Design canvas is a board with components, versions and a reusable library, opened in its own desktop app. It is hosted from Chat or Code but it is not a markdown sidecar inside a conversation.

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Still not sure

Start in Chat. It is the only application you can open without an account, it is the one that is never gated, and it is the fastest way to find out whether your task actually needs a repository, a computer or a board. Signing in later does not lose the conversation on screen.

Cortex Chat

Conversation, research, documents, pictures, projects and scheduled work.

Cortex Code

Sessions in a repository, with runtimes, approvals and a change set.

Cortex Bot

An agent with its own computer, its own routines and its own inbox.

Cortex CLI

The same Code sessions from a terminal, a script or a pipeline.

Cortex Design

Canvases, versions, a component library and export.

Cortex Security

Pull-request review in place, with check runs and findings.
Your plan changes how much of any of these you get rather than which ones you can open: message windows, how many projects you can keep, and how much room the Library gives you. See Plans and quotas. Cortex Bounty is a programme rather than an application you open, and has its own section.